Finish Them Off
by SketchLex
Summary: Research on an unidentified specimen goes awry when the Thing cannot be contained. ::A Deviants/The Thing crossover::
1. Chapter 1

Nikki slapped the side of the helicopter, signaling for the pilot to go on. She held onto her hat as her hair whipped around about her. Christian stood in front of her in the snow next to William as the helicopter took off. "Glad to be back on the ground, Boss?"

He looked around with squinted eyes, miles of blinding white in every direction, the short gray buildings being the only relief to his vision. "Yeah, and now I'm freezing," he said as he pulled his coat tighter over his chest.

"Oh, please! You haven't done anything but complain since we left." Nikki passed between them and walked towards the headquarters building indicated by two red dots over the door. "Besides, it feels great out here."

William grumbled under his breath and followed as Christian walked beside him, stuffing his gloved hands deep in his pockets. Inside they met a tall skinny man in a lab coat with thinning gray hair. He approached with a polite smile and stuck out his hand. "Commander Milord, it's a pleasure. I'm Doctor Callaway."

He shook his hand and gestured to the twins. "Lieutenant Andrews, Sergeant Andrews."

"It's great to have you all here. I have to say, I'm rather excited to share this with you."

"Listen, I don't know how much, um… help we're gonna be for you. I report back to General McPherson who will report back to President Mauntell and if I conclude that this operation isn't beneficial or stable, he's shutting you down," William said honestly.

"I understand that, sir," Callaway nodded. "But I think once you see this, you'll endorse us for further research." He smiled. "Come on. I'll let you see for yourself." The doctor lead them through headquarters, taking them through long narrow hallways that connected to other buildings on the site.

When they started passing lab rooms, Christian trotted closer to the front. "Okay, so is this thing an alien or what?"

The doctor laughed. "We don't know if it's an extraterrestrial or not. We found it frozen in the ice. It's possible it's just a very old organism."

"You said it imitates other life forms?" Nikki spoke up, keeping her place next to William.

"Precisely. Exact replicas. We discovered this when one of our birds uh…"

"Flipped out?" Christian finished.

"Something like that," he chuckled. "We had to terminate that one. Now that we know what it can do, we know how to contain it."

William wrinkled his brow. "There's more than one?"

"Oh, yes. But we're keeping the others frozen to prevent any mishaps."

"It sounds like a mishap like that would be a little more than a mishap," he retorted, forcing the edge of disapproval into his tone.

"You're right, but I can assure you everything is under control." Callaway opened a lab door. "Right this way."

William stepped in with the twins, slowing his pace when coming upon an open lab table. His eyes were drawn to what he first thought was a mangled person, though upon closer inspection he saw that the figure had seven, eight—no, _nine_ limbs. There were possibly two heads, both of which looked as if they could have been human at one time but now was not quite identifiable. One of the faces had been scrunched into disarray as if a black hole appeared at the nose and had begun to suck in the other features but didn't finish. He compared it with images he had seen before of bodies that had been found months after death, bloated and deformed with bubbling fungus. The other was less comparable to a human and more like a slack-jawed anglerfish. Jagged teeth, stretched and torn skin, muscle and bone all thrown together as if they had been mixed in a bowl. Instinct told him to shut his gaping mouth for fear of breathing in the cause of this mutation.

"Holy smokes," Christian exhaled.

"Quite a sight, huh? Takes your breath away." Callaway closed the door.

"Yeah. In nausea," Nikki slowly walked around the table. She sharply gasped and jumped back when something raced past her feet. William's fists reflexively burst into flames as he followed the movement. Nikki knelt to where it darted under a table. An orange tabby stared back with glowing green eyes and a soft meow. "Aw! Kitty!"

"Oh, that's Dax. Sorry about that," said the doctor.

Christian snickered at William before receiving a quick backhand to the gut from him.

"Come here, Dax. I'm sorry I scared you," Nikki said sweetly, reaching her arms out. The cat came forward and she picked him up, receiving purrs of approval when she scratched his neck around his red collar with a silver circular charm.

"He's our lab cat. He can also tell the difference between our specimen and the organism it imitates. He—"

The cat hung onto Nikki's shoulder and gave a thick hiss in William and Christian's direction, laying its ears flat against its head.

Callaway turned to them. "Uh… does that."

"They've both been Touched by Scarlet," said Nikki as she soothed Dax who growled in her arms. "No animals like them."

Christian stuck his tongue out at the cat.

"Oh, I see. Well, as far as we can tell, the specimen's cells imitate every cell of a host organism. And it essentially becomes a parasite until the host is completely consumed and copied. And as we've discovered, it takes a remarkably short amount of time. However this particular specimen seems to have been in the middle of its transformation. The others are very similar. Not quite dog, not quite human." He walked around the table and used a pen to tap flesh that was still partially frozen. "Though this species could be very old or very new, this one is not. As you might have noticed, a human was its victim at some point, we're guessing around sixty years ago." The doctor looked back at them with a wide smile. "But isn't it fascinating? The closest we've come before this is—octopi and chameleons! We've never encountered an organism that has such a flawless imitative defense mechanism!"

Nikki still held Dax against her chest, having successfully calmed him. "Actually, you have."

Callaway looked in her direction and blinked, confused. She gave a sideways nod to William. The doctor turned to him. "You know another organism that imitates perfectly?"

"Uh—it's—" Christian stuttered and pointed at his commander. William bit his bottom lip gently and raised a lazy hand.

He opened his mouth in silent awe. "… You—a Special Ability?"

"I thought you knew," William replied dully. He was certain that his unique gift had reached every ear on the planet by now due to his status unfortunately surpassing military commander and more closely paired with celebrity. "I can imitate physical skills as well as other Abilities but only if they are being used to cause me bodily harm. Not really for changing appearance."

"Well, sometimes." Christian added.

"Shut up," William mumbled.

"That's brilliant! You may have something in common with this species! Have you…?" His eyes shined eagerly.

"Yes, I've volunteered for research and testing and I'm not gonna do it again," he replied sturdily.

Callaway withdrew at his tone. "Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. It would be great to have more information that we could have more control over. But I understand. Well, uh… we're ready to close up for the evening. Tomorrow you will be escorted wherever you want to go and whatever you want to see. Mr. Pritchard will show you all to your rooms."

William thanked him and left with the twins after Nikki had said goodbye to Dax. Upon leaving the lab they were met by Mr. Pritchard, a short plump man with rosy cheeks and beady eyes. "Howdy, guys! How does this weather suit ya?" he chuckled. When only Nikki replied with a polite chuckle of her own did he turn and beckon them. "Come on, I'll show ya where you'll bunk for the night." He walked on ahead of them with a sharp gimp in his step.

Nikki stayed beside William and spoke up. "Are you all right?"

"Oh, yeah, honey! I got a full hip replacement and it ain't sittin' right. Godda go back and get it fixed."

"Eh, okay. Good luck with that." She gave William a wide-eyed look with a crooked mouth.

Mr. Pritchard stopped between two doors and gestured to each of them. "One for the fellas and one for the lady. The mess hall is the way you came. We'll be having supper soon. See you there!" With that the stout man left and the group went into their rooms to rearrange their luggage that had been brought ahead of them. In the mess hall they sat together among the other scientists and doctors and researchers. Though the conversation revolved around normal chitchat, these people were raw and odd in ways William was accustomed but he wasn't so sure the twins were. He had little to say even when he was addressed though he noticed the twins seemed to perpetuate conversations. He knew better though. It was best not to be apart of it.

When they were finished eating, they went back to the room William and Christian were staying in and sat in a circle with wooden chairs in the middle of the floor next to the cots. William had opened his flask and shared it with Christian and it was already half gone between the two of them, though Christian took several breaks until he was done coughing. They had left the door cracked and now the lab cat Dax squeezed through the opening and trotted quickly to Nikki and jumped in her lap. She ran her fingers through his soft fur and looked up to the men. "Is it just me or are all these people really weird?"

"They've been stuck inside with each other and frozen shape-shifting monsters in the Arctic for months, Nik. You'd be weird too."

"Still," Nikki said as she scratched under Dax's chin. "Didn't you have a collar before?"

"He has a point. But maybe they weren't normal to begin with." William had a swig from his flask and spoke past a grimace. "And that's why they're here."

"Yeah, you fit right in don't you, Boss?" Christian gave his shoulder a punch. He shrugged in reply. "They seemed to be interested in you though. At least Callaway was."

"They're not going to make me a lab rat again. I try to do something nice for the field of science and research and they nearly exhausted me to death. They won't get any more kindness out of me."

"William, wasn't that a publicity stunt? So people would like you more?" said Nikki.

"Yeah, but it was a really nice, selfless publicity stunt." He turned his flask up to his lips again and Nikki shook her head at him.

"Well, is anyone else freaked out by this? This thing that can shape-shift like some mythical beast… Is this not, like… disturbing?"

His sister turned her head to him. "Christian, we're fighting an evil Ghost with magical powers. Shape-shifting beasts kinda ride in the same boat."

"I know! I mean, what's next? A vampire infestation?"

William lifted a finger. "You know, there was this one guy—"

"Na-ah-ah! I don't wanna know!" The blonde put his hands over his ears.

"It is kinda neat, though—that these things can disguise themselves perfectly. It must be quite the actor, too. Ya know?" Nikki fluffed the fur on Dax's chest.

"It can't be perfect. Like Callaway said it can only copy the cells of an organism. So, it can't, like, copy clothes or anything," William responded.

"But it's smart enough to put the clothes on. Remember what they were talking about in the cafeteria?"

Christian now moaned and climbed out of his chair and into his cot where his bag was, desperately searching for his music and headphones.

"Doesn't matter how smart it is. It can't disguise everything."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what about inorganic material that you can't just slip on? I mean it obviously can't apply to everyone but what about surgical implants?"

"Oh right! You could tell if I was one. I have a filling in my tooth. See?" Nikki hooked her lip in her finger and stretched it out enough to show a silvery cap on her back molar. "C doesn't have any."

"I still have stitches though," he tapped his chest with a couple knuckles. "I think we'd be out of luck if it turned into you, Chief. You're all scar tissue and that's organic." He lay sideways on his cot with one hand propping up his head and the other fishing through his MP3 player for a song.

"I have two porcelain teeth." He took another drink from his flask.

The twins looked at him in unison. "You do not," Nikki argued.

"Yeah, I do. This one and this one." He pointed to a tooth behind his upper canine and one on the bottom.

Christian blinked. "Why do you have fake teeth?"

He scoffed and rolled his head. "I thought it would be fun. I don't have the real ones anymore! Why do you think?"

"What happened?"

William sighed. He should have known better. "I tore one out with pliers and the other got knocked out."

"Were you drunk," Nikki said dully.

"Why the hell do you always assume I was drunk whenever I tell you something about myself? This is exactly why I don't tell you anything," he said while crossing his arms over his chest and perching his ankle over his knee.

Christian chortled. "Because you always are!" Nikki started to laugh too.

"Well, that doesn't give you the right to assume. For the record, I was only drunk for one of—"

Suddenly Dax yowled and jumped off of Nikki's lap and into the middle of the floor. Christian leaned back when the cat went on screaming with its back arched. Soon, its growling turned to an angry gurgle and began to raise in pitch. Its furry body started quaking and its head started to turn and vibrate. Nikki scooted back in her chair in shock. William stood up and cursed when its head twisted one hundred and eighty degrees and a bulge began to grow at its neck. With a spray of blood the bubble popped and the cat's neck split open down to its chest while the backwards head emitted an eerie mix of yowls and screeches. The split skin spread like a carnivorous prehistoric flower and the muscles and bones that lie therein began to shift and turn until it was a gaping rancid smelling cavern, dripping fluids onto the floor. Christian screamed and climbed up into his cot, standing on the mattress with his back against the wall. Nikki stood and tossed her chair aside and William had seen more than enough.

He struck out his hand and doused the thing in a solid jet of fire. When the flames struck, an eardrum-bursting shriek shocked everyone back. It darted towards William, leaving a blazing trail behind it. He jumped out of the way and blasted it again. "Nikki, my gun!" When it darted through the fire at him for a second time, he lifted his foot and brought it down sharply on its back, the fire singeing the leg of his pants while Nikki rifled through his bag for his nine-millimeter. It squealed and wriggled under his shoe and the awful smell started to intensify as it burned. He cursed at it and bore down harder on it while searching his pocket for his knife.

The base of William's skull throbbed. Before he could retract his foot all the way, fleshy tentacles shot out through the flames and snapped to his leg, tightly wrapping around his calf and shin. He instinctively swung his foot about but the creature stayed attached and some foreign set of jaws clamped down on the toe of his shoe. He tripped back into the other cot and tried to stab it with his switchblade. "Nikki, any time now!"

"Got it!" She loaded his gun and whirled around, firing five shots at the blazing beast. The grip it had on his leg began to loosen until it fell off. William gave it a sharp kick into the far wall where it smoldered and staggered. Nikki shot it two more times until it finally became still and the flames died, leaving it as a blackened mess of fur and flesh on the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

Christian didn't yet peel himself off the wall. "Well, I think I just became a dog person."

Nikki lowered the weapon and turned to William. "Are you okay?"

He picked himself up and brushed the cinders off his pants, being careful not to touch the goo of where the thing had grabbed him. "Contained my ass. That thing they thawed out is alive."

"Was alive." Nikki stared at the smoking pile of grossness.

"I don't care. I'm gonna find Callaway and tell him I'm shutting him down and greasing all his pets before we get the hell out of here." He kicked off his sticky shoe and went to put on his boots.

"We'll come with you." Nikki put his gun in the pocket of her coat and put it on.

"What about that thing? What if it comes back to life?" Christian said, still standing on his bed.

William picked up a wooden post that had been used to stabilize one of the cots. "We'll lock it in. Or you can stay here and keep an eye on it."

The blonde shook his head and jumped down and ran into the hallway. Nikki and William followed him and shoved the wooden post up against the handle to keep it from being opened from the inside.

As they went down the hall of the other bedrooms, Nikki pointed out the open doors. "Look. They already know. I bet they went back to the lab to find Dax." William agreed and followed her back to the room where they had met the thing. "Dr. Callaway?" She turned to the open door and froze.

Her brother trotted up beside her and his mouth came open. He spoke flatly. "You've godda be fucking kidding."

William joined them and looked inside. He wrinkled his nose and brow. The stout man who had shown them their sleeping quarters was laying on his front in the floor. His left side, however, was deformed—a prominent gap where his hip should be with the waist of his pants sunken closer to his pelvis. His leg was awkwardly turned behind him. He lifted his head and sharp eyes met William's. The man's mouth slowly opened and an echoing guttural moan filled the lab room, edged with a monstrous growl.

Nikki's mouth was open in a silent gasp of having seen Mr. Pritchard alive no more than a few hours ago. And now…

William thrust his arm forth and doused the thing in flames. The figure became a silhouette in the fire, a black blob of beastly screams and prehistoric growls. They all watched on as this second thing burned in front of their eyes. Neither of the twins could blink until the fire alarm went off and sprinklers sprayed down on them. William turned around in the hallway. "We need to get everyone who is a person out of here. Nikki, go get your gun and gather everyone who you think _might_ be human and you keep them all in your sight until Christian and I get there."

"What are you and C gonna do?"

He looked to the blonde.

The taller one's eyes bulged in their sockets. "No. No, no, no, no, forget that. Let's just get out of here. No splitting up, no going on an alien hunt—"

"If we don't kill these things, they'll infect other people."

"We're in the frigging _Arctic!"_ Christian pleaded.

"And if we let these things live, how long before they're in America? The world? They're obviously smart enough to make it happen."

"Okay, then you and Nikki go hunt the rest of the freaky mighty morphin' monsters. I'll go round up the rest of the team and wait for you two to get back."

William stared at him. "Fine. You go wait in a room alone with a bunch of people who could turn into one of those things."

Christian blinked and looked at his sister. She stared back at him with an expression that closely paired with William's. He promptly shook his head. "On second thought, your idea wasn't that bad."

"I'll take them all to the lab where I can keep an eye on them." Nikki nodded to William before starting off back to the room to fetch her gun.

"Hey."

She stopped and looked to him, seemingly a little annoyed.

William dipped his chin slightly, keeping his eyes on her. "Be careful."

Nikki began trotting away again, looking over her shoulder. "You, too."

He watched her run back the way they had come then shut the door where the fire had started to swallow the rest of the room. William turned to Christian and spoke over the fire alarm and sprinklers. "If it doesn't look right, shoot it." He passed over his gun.

Christian took it and made sure the safety was turned off. "You don't have to tell me twice."

The men traveled through the hallways, William tossing doors open and Christian aiming inside to clear this area. They found no oddities in the bunk section of the compound. However their destination was the warehouses. One supposedly kept the creatures frozen in ice. The other was for storage. It wasn't nightfall yet, so they could go outside without their snow-gear on to get to them without suffering any frostbite. Though William did not look forward to the moments he would be standing outside at all. When Christian opened the door, it literally took their breath away. William plowed straight ahead through the biting wind. It didn't help that he was wet from the sprinklers.

"Boss!"

He turned around to face Christian. The blonde was pointing at the helicopter. The door to the cockpit was wide open. And there was no one inside. William shook his head. "Forget it. Let's go." He kept running to the warehouses.

"But where's the pilot?!"

The older man ignored him, trudging as fast as he could through the snow that had built up on the pathways to the other buildings. He reached the first door and tried to open it but of course it was locked. Not willing to stand another second of this frigid air, he raised his foot and kicked it in with a snap of the metal inside. Christian followed in behind him and shut the door back though it now hung loosely on its hinges. William shook his hair that had been wet moments ago but was now crystallized and frozen stiff in places. He shook his fingers through it to break it apart as he walked ahead down the narrow corridor that lead further into the warehouse. It was freezing in here, too. He wished he had been more preemptive and thought to at least bring his coat.

Christian jumped when he heard a sound up ahead. William only paused before continuing on with quieter steps. When they heard it again, he confirmed to himself that someone or something was definitely in here. And he wasn't in the mood to feel sorry for shooting anyone who might be human.

Upon reaching the main part of the warehouse, they discovered by all the stacked crates and chain link fence sections that this was in fact the storage unit, and not the warehouse where the other frozen things were being kept. William whispered back to Christian. "Keep your finger on the trigger." The blonde replied with a quick nod as they cleared corners together. William moved with great stealth and rolled his eyes every time he heard Christian's boots on the floor behind him. His own breath only rose in occasional little puffs from his nose while the younger one hissed clouds out one after the other like a train. The next noise came from their left, closer than before. The two men crept nearer and somewhere in this time Christian had either decided to be quiet or had run out of breath to breathe. When William had pinpointed where the sound had come from, he quickly turned into the corner of crates, ready to blast whatever was waiting there. But there was nothing.

Christian tapped his shoulder. He turned around. The blonde pointed with a petrified gesture to the floor. William followed his finger to a trail of pinkish goo mixed with dark blood was still wet and shining on the cold concrete. The smear went all the way to the next aisle.

William looked at him, and stood aside, pointing for him to follow.

Christian quickly shook his head.

The other irritably pointed at the gun in the blonde's hands then back to the aisle where the trail led.

The younger promptly handed over the weapon if it meant he didn't have to go first.

With a silent, perturbed sigh, William snatched the gun from him and followed the goo tracks. Aimed and ready, he turned into the aisle and saw that the trail stopped at a dead end of a tower of wooden pallets and crates. He stepped closer with Christian practically glued to his shoulder. Upon inspecting the end of the trail, he discovered that there were no more smears that led anywhere. William started peering through the pallets carefully for anywhere it might have crawled to for refuge.

"Chief."

William looked over his shoulder at Christian. He was staring straight up with a tight grip on William's sweater. The Commander followed his gaze.

From the rafters of the warehouse, the dim light that flooded in through the dusty and frosted windows glinted off of something wet. The highlights took the shape of muscles. Claws. Teeth. When something resembling a head extended down from an accordion-like neck, William spent no more time trying to distinguish what it looked like. He whipped his pistol up and fired up at the creature. The gunshots echoed loud throughout the warehouse but even still they were nearly drowned out by the blood-curdling din that was the monster's cries of either anger or agony. Christian didn't hesitate in thrusting his fist upward and dousing the thing in a barreling jet of flames. William could have swore he heard more than one organism yowling and growling above. In the light of the fire that swallowed the abomination he saw flailing insect-like legs strike out with other things that looked like tentacles, and maybe a human hand. He didn't really care. He just wanted it dead.

In a ball of fire the creature dropped from the rafters above. William tackled Christian into a stack of pallets to avoid being struck by its landing and the fire that covered it. They toppled over with their ankles flipping over their heads on the other side of the crashed pallets. Amazingly, the monster squealed and promptly raced on top of the pile of pallets under which they lay. Christian screamed and spouted fire like a volcano as the creature pressed the pallet down on him. William fired wildly into the body of the creature directly above him, aiming the barrel of his pistol between the wooden panels. On fire and having been shot countless times, the beast still weighed on them, crushing them with its weight. A clawed hand was trying desperately to rake its way through the panels at them. And just before William felt an unmistakable crack of a rib, his gun had run out of ammo and his next clip was in his back pocket. He growled in panic and frustration as he pressed against the pallet on him up against the monster, dodging its claws whenever they struck through. Christian had since become immobile as he was trapped under two crossing pallets and screaming in terror. This wasn't working. They were going to die here.

William felt another tug at the base of his skull and leaned back to avoid a finely toothed mouth that jutted through the panels to take a bite out of him. With a flaming fist he gripped the arm on which the mouth was mounted and yanked it back, separating it from the monster.

The thing shrieked and reeled backwards, spider-like legs twitching and scuffing the concrete as it bled. William shoved the pallet off of him and jumped to action. He ran straight for a tower of filled crates beside the monster. With a yell and a mighty toss of his weight, he threw his shoulder into the crate skyscraper with an explosion of flames and heat. He stepped back as the tower shook and shuddered before toppling over in slow motion, landing directly on top of the flaming monster with a deafening crash. Dust mixed with fire and clouded the air as wood and flesh burned and filled the warehouse with foul smelling smoke.

William rushed to Christian and tossed the pallets aside to dig him out. The blonde panted heavily and scrambled to his feet. "Gimme that damn gun," the younger rattled.

"Oh, now you want it." The older loaded the clip from his back pocket and handed the piece to him. Christian promptly aimed at the flaming heap under the pile of crates and splintered wood and fired five times. He paused before firing two more times. "Let's get out of here. Come on." William put a hand to his left side where he was certain he had broken a rib and made his way to the door they had come in. Christian followed closely behind.

Back out into the freezing cold they ventured, this time less concerned with its influence after their run in with one of the creatures. And they hadn't even checked the other warehouse yet. Christian assisted William in shimmying a gas barrel that was sitting out in front of the door he had busted to get inside. Yes, it was under a pile of debris inside with multiple gunshot wounds and bathed in fire. But neither of them trusted it was dead.

Luckily they found the next warehouse to be unlocked. They entered with more hesitation in spite of wishing to get back into the warmth. Upon closing the door, a voice down the hall yelled to them. A young girl. "Come quick! Hurry!"

Christian jumped ahead with the gun in hand. William followed behind, keeping a hand on his searing side. The main space of this warehouse was much more open than the other. There were no giant towers of crates and pallets, but simple cardboard boxes piled in corners and plenty of excavating equipment including a couple Snow Cats. In the middle of the room there was a young girl they remembered seeing in the cafeteria. Black hair cascaded out from under her hat over her warm winter coat and her dark skin contrasted with the white fluff of her collar. "Hey, are you all right?" The blonde approached her.

"Christian, no, we don't know." He flicked his chin up at the girl. "Can you prove you're human?"

She still looked panicked and on the verge of tears. "My dad is dead, it killed my dad!" she cried.

"I'm sorry. We're gonna get you home." Christian knelt in front of her and held her shoulders. "I promise. Okay?"

The girl nodded and sniffled, her tears nearly freezing to her cheeks from the moment they left her eyes.

"Not until we know if she's human or not. Kid, what you got. Come on, show us something."

"Jesus, Boss, how about a little sensitivity?" He sighed and looked back at her. "Do you have anything like tooth fillings?"

She sniffled again and shook her head. "No. But I have this." She pulled her purple glove off and put her hand forth. Christian took her hand and looked at the back where there was a washable tattoo print of a heart with stars around it.

He showed it to William who leaned forward to have a look before nodding.

Christian stood upright and kept a hand on the preteen's shoulder. Stick close to us. We'll get you out of here. I'm sorry about your dad." The girl sniffled and went on to tell him about how she found him while the three of them traveled back to where they expected to find Nikki with any of the other survivors.

Outside in the cold they trudged through the snow back to the main building. William took the lead as he remembered which trail led to where. However, the snow that now fell from the sky—or rather blew in from all sides—clouded his vision.

"You're hurt," said the girl over the howling wind.

"Yeah. Think I broke a rib. It's all right though." The man moved his hand from his side to pick up hers when the snow got too deep and he noticed she was struggling.

"Where's your coat?" She held his hand and picked up her knees to walk, leaving deep holes in the snow where her boots were.

"I left it inside like an idiot." William kept a hold of her hand and used his other arm to shield his eyes from the snow nicking his face with sharp little stabs. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed that Christian had bent over to pick up something out of the snow.

"You came with a lady. Are we going to go find her?"

"Yeah." The Commander braced her as they walked through the white desert to the gray blur ahead. "She's supposed to be in the lab with any other survivors. What's your name?"

"Tiana."

"Tiana. I'm sorry about what happened today. But we're gonna get you home safe."

"BOSS!"

William stopped in his tracks and turned around with Tiana.

The blonde had the gun aimed at the girl. "Get away from her!" He whipped up a hand that held something that made William squint his eyes to see through the blinding white and the flurry of snow between them. It was the used paper of a temporary tattoo, still wet.


	3. Chapter 3

The man jerked sideways when the grip on his hand turned to a steel vice. "Ah!" He grabbed the girl's wrist with his other hand. She faced forward as her gloved hand crushed tighter and tighter around his, her brown eyes rolling in their sockets. Her head tilted back and her mouth came open as she moaned to the gray sky. Her voice mixed with a grisly gargling yell while stringy tentacle like appendages burst from her throat and lashed about above her.

William lit both fists on fire, using one of them to punch Tiana in the head as Christian blasted from the nine millimeter. The monster released him with a yowl and the Commander fell backwards into the snow. He quickly snapped up and sent forth an all-consuming wave of fire, completely concealing her in flames from their sight. He looked to Christian and yelled. "Save the ammo! Get to the lab!"

The blonde took off past the staggering flaming body of the girl, pumping his arms to try and run through the snow as fast as possible. William ran with him.

A throb in the back of his skull told him to move faster, but he was already moving at top speed. His left foot was jerked back out from under him, making him face-plant into the snow before he found himself being pulled backwards. "Aagh! Christian!" He tried to flip around to face the girl behind him who stood in the snowstorm, fire rising from her burning body with seven pink slimy tentacles projected from her mouth and wrapped around his ankle. William couldn't reach his foot to free himself due to his broken rib so he resided to trying to find something under the snow to grab onto helplessly as Christian bounded back for him with the gun drawn.

Bullets flew into her torso and head. But she wouldn't go down! Where was the stop button on this thing?! Christian dug his heels in and grabbed the man's arms to try and pull him back, but the thing was too strong.

"Get the things at my foot!" William growled when the monster and his lieutenant stretched his middle to agonizing lengths.

The blonde scrambled on top of him and grabbed his ankle. He lit his own hand on fire and blasted the tentacles that roped under William's shoe. As soon as the older felt them release his ankle, he withdrew his foot. Christian slid off of him and both men were back on their feet running for their lives because what else was there to do? The cold air William cycled through his lungs made his chest ache as he sprinted for the warehouse they had just come from. Having aborted the plan to make it to Nikki, their priority now was to toast any of these things that hadn't yet made it to the lab.

He and Christian stopped beside the wall of the warehouse where they found Tiana, temporarily protected from the wind. Both gasped for a breath and Christian doubled over with his hands on his knees. William panted clouds into the air and looked around the corner to watch the thing stagger around in the snow like a zombie, still blazing. "We've got to make sure all of them are dead."

"How?! You saw all that! You can't shoot them, you can't set them on fire! They're freaking unstoppable!"

William leaned his head back against the warehouse, searching every corner of his mind for an plan. He looked to the first warehouse with all the crates and pallets. Gas barrels were clustered under an awning, probably twenty of them. "Maybe not. Come on. I have an idea."

Christian helped the Commander pull the last barrel into the space between the two warehouses. The blonde nervously eyed the still smoldering, blackened corpse of the Tiana girl just a few feet from them. Both men flinched and looked to the first warehouse where the door shuddered behind the very first gas barrel and a deathly growl came from the other side. "It's alive. I knew it, I knew that thing wasn't dead!"

"Go hold the door, keep it in there." William finished making a trail of gasoline in the snow, making sure to sufficiently douse the barrel they had just placed.

Christian ran back to the door that shook in its frame and hesitantly pressed his back against the gas barrel that blocked the beast's escape. "Ah!" He pressed harder when the door gave and rattled him. "Boss! Hurry up!"

"I'm on it!" He loaded the last clip into his gun. He felt another tug at his brainstem and jumped back just in time to avoid a sticky, black, clawed hand grabbing his leg. What was left of Tiana was crawling towards him. "Jesus—"

"Boss, I can't hold it!" Christian cried as the monster jarred him with rams against the door. He desperately pushed with his heels and gritted his teeth. "BOSS!"

William kicked over the barrel in front of the charred monster. "Let it go!"

Christian's eyes bulged at him. "What?!"

"Let it go and run!" He backed up and aimed at the gas barrel.

When the blonde saw he meant "now" he rolled sideways from the door. It burst open and the barrel rolled through the snow as the first burned beast escaped and screeched his challenge at William, the first organism it spotted. Christian kicked up snow to run away from the buildings and the creatures, looking over his comrade who fired at the gas barrel. The first shot was unsuccessful. So was the second. The beast was closing in. "WILLIAM, COME ON!"

The Commander kept backing up as the things came for him, his aim still on the barrel as he fired two more shots. The fourth one ignited a boom so fierce the ground suffered a tremor before the barrel exploded in a brilliant fiery blast. Shrapnel from the barrel flew out in all directions. The monsters disappeared with short screams into the flames where their silhouettes disintegrated. The blast blew William off his feet and the heat stung his face as he flew backwards into a pile of snow where he quickly covered his head. The ground still shook under him as if it were all happening in slow motion. And that wasn't even the worst blast. He lifted his head when the explosion ended to see that the trail of gasoline in the snow had been ignited. The fire raced towards the warehouses in two separate lines, circling around the entire perimeter of each warehouse and grouping with the gas barrels they had lined against the walls. Yeah. This was not yet a safe distance. William jumped up and sprinted for Christian who had been knocked down by the blast, too. He grabbed his shirt to yank him up and pushed him forward to get him running as fast as he could away from the warehouses towards the safety of the lab. They wouldn't make it inside. But hopefully they were far enough away.

The pre-tremor took the ground out from under their feet, making them both miss a step. The heat from behind blew their hair forward and singed the backs of their necks. The noise rattled their skeletons in their bodies but neither of them stopped moving or stopped to look behind them. They ran as fast as their legs would carry them through the difficult terrain towards the lab.

The door burst open ahead of them and Nikki ran outside, apparently to see what had caused the windows to shake. All three of them skid to a stop. Christian whipped up his gun and aimed at her. Nikki did the same, her blue eyes flicking between the two men and her hair sticking to a cut on her forehead. They stood still in the snowstorm, everyone at gunpoint. William lifted his chin at her. "Show us."

"You first," she said without blinking, her finger still resting on the trigger of her weapon.

The Commander took a breath before slowly lifting a hand to his mouth. Nikki's gun was pointed at his face as she watched him hook a finger in his lip and pull, showing his porcelain tooth that was closest to the front. They wouldn't have known the difference if he hadn't just told them hours prior as it blended in well.

When she seemed satisfied with this, she pointed her gun at her brother. Christian kept one hand on his weapon while the other lifted up his sweater, revealing the stitches on his chest from Scarlet's dagger.

Nikki lowered her weapon and sighed out a cloud of her breath.

"Now you." Christian kept aiming at her head.

The dark-headed girl swished her tongue around in her mouth briefly before opening her jaw wide. The men crept closer with hesitation and caution to peer inside her mouth where they saw a silver cap sitting on her back molar.

Christian put William's gun down and wrapped her in a hug. She patted his back but her eyes were looking over their shoulders at the two warehouses that were burning with flames that stretched three stories into the snowy sky. "Are you all right?" He held her face to check the cut on her head.

"I'm fine. I guess I don't need to ask if you finished them off."

William returned his hand to his sore side. "Hopefully. Did you find anyone?"

She shook her head. "Dead."

Christian looked to the lab then back to the helicopter. "Did you find the pilot?"

"No. But I got the radio to work. Let's just get out of here. A-C will handle the rest."

William winced at the frigid, whistling wind in his damp hair. "Can you fly?"

"Sort of." She climbed into the cockpit.

"I'm not sure I'm okay with 'sort of.'"

"Then you can stay here. All your stuff is in here. Leave now or hang around and wait for A-C."

William watched Christian climb into the aircraft without hesitation. He sighed and followed, taking the blonde's hand to step on board. He sat down and promptly buckled himself in as Nikki put on the headset and flipped a series of switches, talking quietly to herself as if she were trying to remember all the things on the checklist of starting up a helicopter. "How does… your instructor feel about your flying skills?"

"I'm passing with flying colors, William. Don't worry about it." She looked up and pressed some buttons and the propellers began rotating.

"It's okay, Boss. We'll be out of here in no time. Get your rib taken care of." Christian slapped his shoulder.

The man sat back against the wall of the vehicle and closed his eyes. When the craft left the ground, he held onto everything around him for dear life with a white-knuckled grip, gritting his teeth behind his lips.

"How long do you suppose those things have been here?"

William swallowed and shook his head, not yet capable of voicing any response for fear of losing his lunch.

"Do you think we got all of them? I mean… what if there's another one somewhere else?"

The older panted. "A-C will take care of it."

"What if they can't find it? What if it ran off or something?"

William opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of the helicopter. "Then we're screwed."

Nikki looked over her shoulder at the men conversing before returning her attention to the sky ahead of her, flying above the snowstorm.

A voice crackled through on her radio. "We've got a spot for you. Bring 'em on home. Over."

"Copy that. E-T-A: two hours and twenty-three minutes. Over."

"Copy that, Andrews. Over and out."

Nikki slid the microphone back up the side of her headset. She moved her tongue around in her mouth before sticking her finger and thumb in her lips. She looked down in her hand at the silver dental cap before hiding it in the pocket of her jeans. Her mouth barely curved with a smirk as she flew on.


End file.
